A Start in Life [66]
the hours of four in the afternoon to half-past seven in
the evening. Coffee, ices, and liqueurs were in abundance. But
the presence of the master himself forbade the chanting of hymns
of praise in clerical stanzas. No clerk exceeded the bounds of
amiable gayety, for the worthy, respectable, and generous patron
had promised to take his clerks to see Talma in "Brittanicus," at
the Theatre-Francais. Long life to Maitre Bordin! May God shed
favors on his venerable pow! May he sell dear so glorious a
practice! May the rich clients for whom he prays arrive! May his
bills of costs and charges be paid in a trice! May our masters to
come be like him! May he ever be loved by clerks in other worlds
than this!
Here followed thirty-three reports of various receptions of new
clerks, distinguished from one another by different writing and
different inks, also by quotations, signatures, and praises of good
cheer and wines, which seemed to show that each report was written and
signed on the spot, "inter pocula."
Finally, under date of the month of June, 1822, the period when
Desroches took the oath, appears this constitutional declaration:--
I, the undersigned, Francois-Claude-Marie Godeschal, called by
Maitre Desroches to perform the difficult functions of head-clerk
in a Practice where the clients have to be created, having learned
through Maitre Derville, from whose office I come, of the
existence of the famous archives architriclino-basochien, so
celebrated at the Palais, have implored our gracious master to
obtain them from his predecessor; for it has become of the highest
importance to recover a document bearing date of the year 1786,
which is connected with other documents deposited for safe-keeping
at the Palais, the existence of which has been certified to by
Messrs. Terrasse and Duclos, keepers of records, by the help of
which we may go back to the year 1525, and find historical
indications of the utmost value on the manners, customs, and
cookery of the clerical race.
Having received a favorable answer to this request, the present
office has this day been put in possession of these proofs of the
worship in which our predecessors held the Goddess Bottle and good
living.
In consequence thereof, for the edification of our successors, and
to renew the chain of years and goblets, I, the said Godeschal,
have invited Messieurs Doublet, second clerk; Vassal, third clerk;
Herisson and Grandemain, clerks; and Dumets, sub-clerk, to
breakfast, Sunday next, at the "Cheval Rouge," on the Quai Saint-
Bernard, where we will celebrate the victory of obtaining this
volume which contains the Charter of our gullets.
This day, Sunday, June 27th, were imbibed twelve bottles of twelve
different wines, regarded as exquisite; also were devoured melons,
"pates au jus romanum," and a fillet of beef with mushroom sauce.
Mademoiselle Mariette, the illustrious sister of our head-clerk
and leading lady of the Royal Academy of music and dancing, having
obligingly put at the disposition of this Practice orchestra seats
for the performance of this evening, it is proper to make this
record of her generosity. Moreover, it is hereby decreed that the
aforesaid clerks shall convey themselves in a body to that noble
demoiselle to thank her in person, and declare to her that on the
occasion of her first lawsuit, if the devil sends her one, she
shall pay the money laid out upon it, and no more.
And our head-clerk Godeschal has been and is hereby proclaimed a
flower of Basoche, and, more especially, a good fellow. May a man
who treats so well be soon in treaty for a Practice of his own!
On this record were stains of wine, pates, and candle-grease. To
exhibit the stamp of truth that the writers had managed to put upon
these records, we may here give the report
the evening. Coffee, ices, and liqueurs were in abundance. But
the presence of the master himself forbade the chanting of hymns
of praise in clerical stanzas. No clerk exceeded the bounds of
amiable gayety, for the worthy, respectable, and generous patron
had promised to take his clerks to see Talma in "Brittanicus," at
the Theatre-Francais. Long life to Maitre Bordin! May God shed
favors on his venerable pow! May he sell dear so glorious a
practice! May the rich clients for whom he prays arrive! May his
bills of costs and charges be paid in a trice! May our masters to
come be like him! May he ever be loved by clerks in other worlds
than this!
Here followed thirty-three reports of various receptions of new
clerks, distinguished from one another by different writing and
different inks, also by quotations, signatures, and praises of good
cheer and wines, which seemed to show that each report was written and
signed on the spot, "inter pocula."
Finally, under date of the month of June, 1822, the period when
Desroches took the oath, appears this constitutional declaration:--
I, the undersigned, Francois-Claude-Marie Godeschal, called by
Maitre Desroches to perform the difficult functions of head-clerk
in a Practice where the clients have to be created, having learned
through Maitre Derville, from whose office I come, of the
existence of the famous archives architriclino-basochien, so
celebrated at the Palais, have implored our gracious master to
obtain them from his predecessor; for it has become of the highest
importance to recover a document bearing date of the year 1786,
which is connected with other documents deposited for safe-keeping
at the Palais, the existence of which has been certified to by
Messrs. Terrasse and Duclos, keepers of records, by the help of
which we may go back to the year 1525, and find historical
indications of the utmost value on the manners, customs, and
cookery of the clerical race.
Having received a favorable answer to this request, the present
office has this day been put in possession of these proofs of the
worship in which our predecessors held the Goddess Bottle and good
living.
In consequence thereof, for the edification of our successors, and
to renew the chain of years and goblets, I, the said Godeschal,
have invited Messieurs Doublet, second clerk; Vassal, third clerk;
Herisson and Grandemain, clerks; and Dumets, sub-clerk, to
breakfast, Sunday next, at the "Cheval Rouge," on the Quai Saint-
Bernard, where we will celebrate the victory of obtaining this
volume which contains the Charter of our gullets.
This day, Sunday, June 27th, were imbibed twelve bottles of twelve
different wines, regarded as exquisite; also were devoured melons,
"pates au jus romanum," and a fillet of beef with mushroom sauce.
Mademoiselle Mariette, the illustrious sister of our head-clerk
and leading lady of the Royal Academy of music and dancing, having
obligingly put at the disposition of this Practice orchestra seats
for the performance of this evening, it is proper to make this
record of her generosity. Moreover, it is hereby decreed that the
aforesaid clerks shall convey themselves in a body to that noble
demoiselle to thank her in person, and declare to her that on the
occasion of her first lawsuit, if the devil sends her one, she
shall pay the money laid out upon it, and no more.
And our head-clerk Godeschal has been and is hereby proclaimed a
flower of Basoche, and, more especially, a good fellow. May a man
who treats so well be soon in treaty for a Practice of his own!
On this record were stains of wine, pates, and candle-grease. To
exhibit the stamp of truth that the writers had managed to put upon
these records, we may here give the report